The German Law on University Statistics is the basis for federal statistics for the purposes of legislation and planning in the higher education sector and at the vocational academies as well as for fulfilling data delivery obligations under European law.

The amendment of the University Statistics Act of 6 March 2016 obliges our university to collect comprehensive doctoral candidate data every year on 1 December and forward it to the Federal Statistical Office. For the first time in Germany, a valid data set for doctoral candidate statistics is to be created that can meet the extended data requirements of the EU and the requirements of the Federal Education Report on Young Academics.

Further information on doctoral statistics can be found at University Statistics Law.

In order to comply with the University Statistics Law, the University of Cologne must collect data on, among other things, doctoral studies, study courses and admission to higher education. The exact legal requirements can be found at University Statistics Law.

In order to process your application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate or your registration in Docfile (for doctoral projects already in progress) and to validate the data relevant to the University Statistics Law, it is necessary to provide documentary proof of your details.
Necessary proofs are scans of university entrance qualifications, graduation certificates, certificates of examination degrees, if applicable, confirmation of supervision/agreements, if applicable, certificates of graduate schools as well as certificates of enrolment and certificates of course of study.
Please note that if you are newly accepted as a doctoral candidate, the original of these documents must also be submitted to the doctoral office.

Yes, you can save and exit your entries in the registration assistant at any time. You can continue your registration at a later date, upload documents and complete the registration by submitting your details. If you have already completed registration, you can upload your documents under "My profile", "Doctoral file" (D), "Documents" with "Add document".

Please only check this box if you are planning a cumulative dissertation and meet the formal requirements. Please note that the information in Docfile is a declaration of intent. An additional application to your faculty may be required in order to cumulatively do your doctorate. The doctoral regulations applicable to you regulate this accordingly.

Please enter the university qualification that entitles you to a doctorate. If several university qualifications in combination qualify you for a doctorate, please select the last degree you obtained. Please make sure that all completed study periods (including discontinued and uncompleted studies) are documented in Docfile.

Please remember to upload the corresponding documents in Docfile.

Please indicate here only cooperations based on a formal institutional contract or agreement. Cooperative doctorates can be obtained in cooperation with other universities (e.g. RWTH Aachen), in cooperation with universities abroad (e.g. Cotutelle de thèse), in cooperation with universities of applied sciences (e.g. TH Köln), in cooperation with a research institution (e.g. Forschungszentrum Jülich, Max Planck Institutes, Forschungszentrum caesar) or in cooperation with industry or other institutions (e.g. Bayer AG, Siemens AG).

If you are not sure whether you have a cooperative doctorate, please contact your supervisor and the doctoral office responsible for you.

This type of cooperative doctorate must be differentiated from scientific collaborations, which are also checked during registration in Docfile.

Please remember to upload the corresponding document in Docfile.

The type of higher education entrance qualification to be specified is the highest general school leaving certificate that permits first access to the German higher education system. If you have acquired several university entrance qualifications, please indicate the first higher education entrance qualification you have acquired.

Please remember to upload the corresponding document in Docfile.

In the data field "Start of doctoral project", please indicate when you actually started working on your doctorate. This may have already taken place before the official acceptance as a doctoral student in the faculty. In the "Date of thesis" data field, please enter the date on which your supervisor assigned the doctoral thesis to you.

Please indicate the official supervisor in your doctoral project. This is usually a university professor at the University of Cologne.